Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Egon Brecher (18 February 1880 – 12 August 1946) was an Austria-Hungary-born actor and director, who also served as the chief director of Vienna's Stadts Theatre, before entering the motion picture industry. The son of a professor, Brecher began studying philosophy in 1900 at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. He did not finish his studies, deciding to become an actor. He appeared on several provincial stages in Germany and Austria until 1910, and then played in Vienna on various occasions, directed by Josef Jarno until 1921. In 1907, he founded an initiative (which lasted for something like one or two years) to play modern Yiddish theatre in German language with Siegfried Schmitz and members of the student club ‘Theodor Herzl’ like Hugo Zuckermann and Oskar Rosenfeld. In 1919 he was co-founder of the Freie Jüdische Volksbühne in Vienna, a Yiddish theatre, which existed for three years. Then, in 1921, he moved to New York to act on Broadway. He moved to Hollywood in the late 1920s to appear in foreign-language versions of American films. In the mid-1930s he appeared in classic horror films The Black Cat, Werewolf of London, The Black Room, Mark of the Vampire and The Devil-Doll, and worked steadily in the espionage films of the 1930s/40s, his Slavic accent landing him roles both noble and villainous. One of his largest screen roles was in 1946's So Dark the Night. He died later in 1946, aged 66, of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California.
Acted in 80
1940s
- 1946
So Dark the Night
Dr. Boncourt
Sister Kenny
Frenchman (uncredited)
O.S.S.
Marcel Aubert
Just Before Dawn
Dr. Evans (uncredited)
- 1945
White Pongo
Dr. Gerig
Voice of the Whistler
Dr. Rose (replaced by Frank Reicher) (uncredited)
A Royal Scandal
Wassilikow (uncredited)
- 1943
Above Suspicion
Gestapo Official (Uncredited)
Mission to Moscow
Heinrich Sahm (uncredited)
- 1942
Isle of Missing Men
Richard Heller
For the Common Defense!
Adolph (uncredited)
Kings Row
Dr. Candell
- 1941
Manpower
Pop Duval
Underground
Herr Director
Man Hunt
Jeweler
Out of Darkness
Victor Jourdain (uncredited)
Four Mothers
Music Foundation Director (uncredited)
- 1940
A Dispatch from Reuters
Von Konstat (uncredited)
Buyer Beware
Child's Father (uncredited)
The Man I Married
Czech
I Was an Adventuress
Jacques Dubois
Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet
Martl
Calling Philo Vance
Austrian Judge (uncredited)
Know Your Money
Samuels the Druggist (uncredited)
1930s
- 1939
Judge Hardy and Son
Anton Volduzzi
We Are Not Alone
Mr. Adolf Schiller
Espionage Agent
Larsch
Nurse Edith Cavell
Dr. Gunther
Angels Wash Their Faces
Mr. Smith
Hotel Imperial
Pograncz (uncredited)
Confessions of a Nazi Spy
Fritz Muller - German Agent (uncredited)
While America Sleeps
Klaus
The Three Musketeers
Landlord
Devil's Island
Debriac
- 1938
Spring Madness
Soviet Travel Bureau Agent
Suez
Doctor
Gateway
Rabbi
I'll Give a Million
Citizen
You and Me
Mr. Levine
Cocoanut Grove
Pawnbroker
Invisible Enemy
Kirman
Arsène Lupin Returns
Vasseur (uncredited)
Blondes at Work
J.Z. Beckman (uncredited)
The Spy Ring
General A. R. Bowen
- 1937
Beg, Borrow or Steal
Antique Shop Proprietor (uncredited)
The Women Men Marry
John (uncredited)
I Met Him in Paris
Emile - Upper Sled Run Tower Control
Espionage
Chief of Police
The Great O'Malley
Morris - the Pawnbroker (uncredited)
Stolen Holiday
Deputy Bergery
- 1936
Alibi for Murder
Sir Conrad Stava
The White Angel
Pastor Fliedner
Sins of Man
Doctor
Till We Meet Again
Schultz
Boulder Dam
Pa Vangarick
Paddy O'Day
Russian Musician
Charlie Chan's Secret
Ulrich
- 1935
Here's to Romance
Descartes
Air Hawks
Schulter's Henchman
The Florentine Dagger
Karl
- 1934
Now and Forever
Doctor (uncredited)
Many Happy Returns
Dr. Otto von Strudel
No Greater Glory
Racz
As the Earth Turns
Mr. Janowski
- 1933
Convention City
Zorb
1920s
- 1929
Die Königsloge
Movie